87 MC employees found absent
Amritsar, April 12
Even as the Chief Minister had recently directed all district administrations to ensure 100 per cent attendance of all government employees in their respective departments, yet the Municipal Corporation (MC) employees don’t care two hoots about it.
On a random checking of different wings of the MC yesterday, the Joint Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal found at least 87 employees absent from their seats without any valid reason.

The Municipal Corporation office in Town Hall in
Amritsar. Photo: Sameer Sehgal

Jallianwala Bagh massacreMartyrs’ kin resent denial of benefits
Amritsar, April 12
Even after a lapse of nine decades, no policy could be framed to extend benefits to the kin of martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Even as the Indian Government has accorded the freedom fighter status to the martyrs, yet no benefit could be granted to their surviving kin.

The Jallianwala Bagh memorial; and (below) visitors have a look at the bullet marks on a wall of the bagh in
Amritsar. Photos: Sameer Sehgal

Members of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front raise patriotic slogans while paying tributes to the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on the eve of the 93rd anniversary of the carnage in Amritsar on Thursday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal

Visitors have a look at a picture of the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre at the bagh in Amritsar on Thursday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal

Newlywed’s death: Husband, in-laws bookedAmritsar, April 12
The police has slapped dowry death charges on the in-laws of Shivani (28), who was killed under mysterious circumstances in her in-laws’ house on Duni Chand Road, near Lawrence Road, here late last evening.

BSNL takes steps to stop cable theft, damage
Amritsar, April 12
Following the repeated incidents of telephone network disruptions due to cable theft in many parts of the Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, BSNL has found an innovative way to curb the menace.

Students perform giddha; and (right) folk orchestra during Baisakhi celebrations to welcome a deligation of the Pakistan-India Peace and Democracy Forum from Pakistan at Virsa Vihar in Amritsar on Thursday. Photos: Sameer Sehgal

Students of Global Institute excel in exams
Amritsar, April 12
Students of Global Institute have brought laurels for the institution by holding top positions in the examinations conducted by Punjab Technical University.
College Principal Dr AS Dhindsa said Annie Ahuja of MCA (semester I) and Navpreet Kaur of BTec (semester V) have secured top positions in the university examinations conducted in December, 2011.

7 booked for killing stray dogs
Amritsar, April 12
The D-Division police has booked one Naman and six unidentified persons, all residents of the Shakti Nagar area in the walled city, for allegedly killing stray dogs in the area.
Kiran Mehra, a resident of same locality, in her statement to the police alleged that the accused poisoned the stray dogs to death.

5 booked for rape
Amritsar, April 12
The Maqboolpura police has booked five persons, including a woman, in connection with a rape case in which a girl was repeatedly raped by the accused after alluring her with a promise of marriage.

Drug peddler arrested
Amritsar, April 12
The CIA staff have arrested a notorious drug peddler, Sukhdev Singh, alias Moni, resident of Maqboolpura.
He had been to jail in 15 cases of bootlegging before he started smuggling drugs.

Tourist’s purse snatched
Amritsar, April 12
Two motorcycle-borne miscreants snatched a purse of a Jammu resident here late last evening.

Amritsar, April 12
Even as the Chief Minister had recently directed all district administrations to ensure 100 per cent attendance of all government employees in their respective departments, yet the Municipal Corporation (MC) employees don’t care two hoots about it.

On a random checking of different wings of the MC yesterday, the Joint Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal found at least 87 employees absent from their seats without any valid reason.

Confirming it, Pardeep Sabharwal said all absentees had been issued show-cause notices. Disciplinary action would be initiated against the employees found guilty.

“We have issued show-cause notices to these employees to explain their position that why disciplinary actions should not be initiated against them as they were found to be absent from their seats during office hours. Those who would not be able to justify their absenteeism would be liable to face departmental action,” said Sabharwal.

“This step has been taken just to ensure that all should reach the office at 9 am and do their duties sincerely so that the residents should not be bothered if they have any government-related work to do,” he added.

As soon as the news of the checking drive spread in the MC office at Town Hall, several employees tried to caution their absent colleagues on their mobile phones, but in vain.

Out of a total of 70 staff members in the House Tax Department, as many as 58, including a superintendent and a dozen inspector-level officials, were not present on their seats during the checking drive. This was followed by the Health Department, where at least 50 per cent employees were absent. The Joint Commissioner found 16 employees, out of a total strength of 30, absent. Similarly, seven employees were absent in the Licence Wing and six in the Water Supply Wing.

All these departments cater to the needs of general public. The residents, who were on the MC premises to furnish the official formalities for several tasks, resented that despite having good number of gazetted holidays, the government staff members did not perform their duties sincerely.

“Ask those who do not have job, despite possessing educational degrees in their names. In the absence of any stern action against the erring employees by the department, they take everything for granted,” said the residents.

Amritsar, April 12
Even after a lapse of nine decades, no policy could be framed to extend benefits to the kin of martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Even as the Indian Government has accorded the freedom fighter status to the martyrs, yet no benefit could be granted to their surviving kin.

The main hindrance is that it took the government 89 years to grant the martyrs this honour when there lived their (martyrs) fourth generation and the policy only limits benefits to the immediate blood relations.

Another problem is that there is gross discrepancy in the list of martyrs. There are three lists. One is with the district administration, which was prepared by the British Government in 1921. This list described the number of martyrs to be 487. The second list is with the Jallianwala Bagh National Trust, headed by the Prime Minister, which showed the number of martyrs as 388 and the third list with the Jallianwala Bagh Shaheed Parivar Samiti, which says the number of martyrs were 464.

Which list should get recognition is yet another matter of investigation.

City-based Sunil Kapoor, whose great grandfather Vaso Mal died three days after suffering bullet wounds at the Jallianwala Bagh in 1919, said it was delay on the part of the Indian Government, because of which they were devoid of their dues. “We had applied for the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme-1980, but the policy states
that only the immediate relation, like the spouse (widow/widower), unmarried daughters, father or mother of the deceased freedom fighters, can be benefited with the pension scheme”, he said.

“We have been conveyed by the Under Secretary to Union Government of India that as per the extant provisions of the scheme, the successors of the freedom fighters are not eligible for any family pension benefit,” said Kapoor.

Bhushan Lal Behl, president of the Jallianwala Bagh Samiti, whose grandfather Lala Hari Ram Behl was among the martyrs, said the matter had been hanging fire due to official rigmarole. “It’s been 92 years when the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy occurred. If someone with immediate relation to the martyr lived, he or she should have at least been of over 95 years of age. Moreover, there are also very bleak chances to trace them. What is the logic of giving us freedom fighter status when no benefit can be extended to us by their policy matters?” Behl said.

Nevertheless, officials said one of the main reasons for the delay was that the British list also mentioned the compensation amount, given to the next of kin of martyrs or those injured, which was calculated according to their annual income then and the capitalised value of decrease in their income, due to permanent or partial disability. This factor could not be verified because it was difficult to trace the exact relations and the records.

Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said, “The matter is hypothetical and it has to be clarified from the Ministry of Home and whatever their direction would be, it would be implemented.”

Amritsar, April 12
The police has slapped dowry death charges on the in-laws of Shivani (28), who was killed under mysterious circumstances in her in-laws’ house on Duni Chand Road, near Lawrence Road, here late last evening.

As per police officials, preliminary investigations have pointed out that she was strangled to death, while her in-laws had stated that she had committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan.

A case under Sections 304-B and 34 of the IPC has been registered against six members of Shivani’s in-laws’ family, including her husband Varun Arora, father-in-law Parveen Arora, mother-in-law Parveen Kumar, brother-in-law Gokal Arora, sister-in-law Saniya and her husband Ashu Narang.

The case has been registered on the complaint of Kailash Chander Malhotra, father of Shivani and resident of Beauty Avenue, Siyali Road, Pathankot. In his statement he told the police that Shivani’s in-laws used to harass her for dowry. Shivani and Varun got married on November 18,2011, just four and half months ago.

He alleged that last morning Shivani had called her mother that her in-laws had tried to kill her by setting her on fire. He said they were planning to take her back to Pathankot, but before this could happen, they got the news that their daughter had died. He said there were signs of strangulation around her neck.

Meanwhile, the police handed over the body of the deceased to her family members after postmortem.

The postmortem report would be received by the police tomorrow, said Sukhwinder Singh, SHO, Civil Line police station. “We will receive the report by tomorrow and subsequent action would be taken after that. No arrest has been made so far, while Varun and his father Parveen Arora had been taken into the custody for investigations, he added.

Amritsar, April 12
Following the repeated incidents of telephone network disruptions due to cable theft in many parts of the Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, BSNL has found an innovative way to curb the menace.

After observing the modus operandi of the telephone cable thieves, BSNL has decided to seal the manhole lids with coal tar. The cost of the operation would be borne by the department.

A motorcycle rally was today organised by BSNL employees on Albert Road for garnering public support to stop the menace and catch the thieves.

After flagging off the rally, BSNL General Manager Labh Singh said general public’s intervention was required to nab the culprits, who disrupt the telephone services by damaging the cables, which was a government property.

“The purpose of organising the rally was to generate public awareness. BSNL is a public telecom utility and is providing a variety of telecom services to the general public, especially in the rural and far flung areas, with a social responsibility, but the menace of theft has plagued the general quality of the services and giving us a hard time to maintain and provide the services round the clock. I appeal to the general public to help us catch the culprits who are damaging the government property and disrupting the telephone services,” said Labh Singh.

“We ask the general public to demand the identity card of any suspicious person, if found to be tempering with or transporting the telephone cables,” he added.

A few months ago, BSNL had discovered that its cables were damaged and stolen from underground ducts at Putlighar, Mall Mandi area and overhead network in Amritsar city, Majitha, Ajnala, Patti, Rayya, Goindwal Sahib and various parts of Tarn Taran.

Meanwhile, Sarbjeet Singh, district secretary of the BSNL Employees Union, said it were the manholes through which the miscreants reach the underground telephone cables. “That’s why the decision has been taken to identify all the manholes in the city and get them sealed with coal tar,”
he said.

Talking about the Customer Delight Month programme, Sarbjeet said within a span of one month BSNL had achieved the target of making 1,000 broadband customers and selling 5,000 new mobile phone connections. “We focused on adopting expeditious redress of customer grievances regarding quality of service, billing, same-day rectification of faults, etc, and we would continue to do so,” he said.

The cable theft can be reported to the police control room on phone number 100 or BSNL control room on phone numbers 12626 and 2224808.

Amritsar, April 12
The Virsa Vihar Society organised Baisakhi celebrations to welcome a 10-member delegation of the Pakistan-India Peace and Democracy Forum from Pakistan, here today.
A cultural programme, comprising folk dances and songs, was organised.

A delegation member, Saida Deep, said 95 per cent of both the countries wanted peace and friendly relations. “There is a misconception that once a Pakistan visa is stamped on your passport, you would not get a visa for another country. Even people are afraid to make phone calls to Pakistan fearing that state agencies would follow them,” said Saida Deep, adding that there was a need to build confidence.

Another member of the delegation and poet Tabasum presented two of his poems to express commonness between the people of the two countries. The delegation members said they were able to get visas after hard labour. They stated that both the governments must give visa easily to the citizens to visit their country.

Later Pooran Chand Wadalli of the Wadalli bothers fame honoured artistes and members of the delegation.

Amritsar, April 12
Students of Global Institute have brought laurels for the institution by holding top positions in the examinations conducted by Punjab Technical University.
College Principal Dr AS Dhindsa said Annie Ahuja of MCA (semester I) and Navpreet Kaur of BTec (semester V) have secured top positions in the university examinations conducted in December, 2011.

He said students of BTech (IT) had secured eight out of the first 10 positions in the examination. He added that three MCA and four MBA students had also found place in the merit list.

College Chairman Dr BS Chandi in a function organised to honour the meritorious students lauded the role of teachers and students for bring laurels to the institutions. “In the four years after its inception, the college has done extremely well in educating and getting its students find jobs in reputed companies,” he said.

Amritsar, April 12
The D-Division police has booked one Naman and six unidentified persons, all residents of the Shakti Nagar area in the walled city, for allegedly killing stray dogs in the area.
Kiran Mehra, a resident of same locality, in her statement to the police alleged that the accused poisoned the stray dogs to death.

Earlier, they had lodged complaint with the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation (MC), on whose directions the case was registered.

The police has registered a case under Sections 428 and 429 of the IPC and also charged them under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act-1960. No arrest had been made so far, said Harjinder Singh, SHO, D-Division police station, while adding
that investigations were under progress.

Amritsar, April 12
The Maqboolpura police has booked five persons, including a woman, in connection with a rape case in which a girl was repeatedly raped by the accused after alluring her with a promise of marriage.

The complainant, who originally hailed from Uttar Pradesh and now residing in the Old Jawahar Nagar area, in her statement to the police alleged that she was abducted by Bikram Singh and his family members about eight months ago.

Those booked include Bikram Singh, his father Rampal, mother Rani, sister Jyoti and her husband Sukhraj, both residents of Vallah village.

She alleged that on the pretext of marrying her, Bikram Singh continue to rape her and when she became pregnant, the family left her. She said the accused kept her at their house at Vallah and houses of their relatives during the kidnapping period.

Paramjit Singh, SHO, Maqboolpura, said a case under Sections 363, 366, 376, 506 and 120-B of the IPC was registered on the statement of the complainant. He said no arrest was made so far as the accused were absconding.

Amritsar, April 12
The CIA staff have arrested a notorious drug peddler, Sukhdev Singh, alias Moni, resident of Maqboolpura.
He had been to jail in 15 cases of bootlegging before he started smuggling drugs.

The police recovered 320 gm of narcotic powder from him. A case under Sections 22,61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered.A team of CIA staff was patrolling in the Gujjapura area when it noticed the suspicious movements of Sukhdev. On seeing the police, he threw a packet from his pocket.

Amritsar, April 12
Two motorcycle-borne miscreants snatched a purse of a Jammu resident here late last evening.

Mangat Ram Rana, resident of Koti Cant, Jammu, lodged a complaint with the police that he along with his wife had been going to the Golden Temple in an auto-rickshaw when two motorcycle-borne miscreants came from behind and sped away after snatching the purse of his wife near Ashoka Chowk here.

She had Rs 27,000, two mobile phones and ATM and voter cards in her purse.

A case under Sections 379-B and 34 of the IPC has been registered at the Civil Line police station.